Looking for Binoculars

[pgc hunter]

G'day, I'm just thinking of getting a pair of binoculars for astronomy and some casual terrestrial viewing. This will be handheld, no mounts or anything like that. Have a budget of say $300-400. Heard good things about Orion's Mini giant 9x63, while others say 10x50's are a great all rounder. Tempted to go a tad higher in magnification for astro, but shakes might be an issue.

Any recommendations? And experiences hand holding binoculars larger/higher magnification than 10x50?

[Ukastronomer]

Why would you want higher magnification ? from binoculars unless comet hunting

In fact 8x50 and at most 10x50 are the most useful,

http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/telescope-reviews/binoculars

https://www.meteorwatch.org/equipment/binoculars-binoculars-stargazing/

[Camelopardalis]

IMO the best general purpose binoculars are the image stabilised variants, but the cost a fair bit more than you’re looking to spend :shrug:

They are night and day though, and work equally well for astro as daytime...

I have a pair of Canons and wouldn’t part with for the world!

[glend]

I have Orion 15x70s, the long eye relief model, and it is pretty heavy. I find they work best in a reclining camp chair. It is important, i think, that you get ones with individual eye adjustment (diopter) because most people have eyes which are slightly different. I don't use them much anymore because I have macular degeneration in one eye now, so a monocular is better for me. I just close the bad eye using the Orions. If you have any sort of vision problem i would avoid binos, they just exagerate the problem. Don't forget these are achromate lenses so colour fringing will be present.

[Saturnine]

Haven't used the 9 x 63 Mini Giants but have a pair of Tasco 9 X 60s' and find that the are not noticeably heavier / harder to hold steady than 10 X 50s' and the extra aperture over 50mm helps. Moving up to 70mm binos you will notice the weight difference and will be harder to hold steady for more than a few minutes as your arms tire.
Why only hand held, binos are easy to mount on a camera tripod with an L bracket and mounting that way steadies the view , so much so that you can easily see a magnitude deeper and notice more detail.

[warpsl]

Hi.i suggest you avoid most cheap Chinese made binoculars.undersize prisms,out of collimation,barrell misalignment.pentax sp models being the exception.i have 10x50 fujinon fmt-sx and it is the best in that size range.and because of the wide set objectives it gives an amazing 3d effect.digidirect or aec are your best places to buy Fuji.regards.

[warpsl]

Hi,spend a bit extra and get fujinon 10x50 fmt sx.they are the best in that size range.the wide set objectives give amazing 3d views.digidirect or aec should have them.regards.

[skysurfer]

And most cheaper binos have a smaller aperture than claimed. I have had Celestron "15x70" binos for 140 euros ($210) but their prisms were too small and the flashlight test revealed only 65mm. Another "50mm" was actually 46mm. This is done for concealing too small prisms and color errors.
Shine a flashlight through one of the eyepieces and measure the image circle projected on the objective side. That is the actual aperture.

I have a 16x56 (yes 56 real mm) and that goes deeper than 10x50 (darker sky background) and are yet not too shaky for handheld use. Under the dark Australian sky these are awesome, nice views of Eta, Orion nebula or LMC and can even resolve Omega Centauri or 47 Tuc.

[FlashDrive]

RE : Heard good things about Orion's Mini giant 9x63......

I have a pair of these Binoculars .....Perfect / Light / Very Nice Optics .....good choice to make IMHO.

Col ...

[pgc hunter]

Thanks for the responses guys. Yeah, don't wanna cheap out, but at the same time don't want to spend a bundle. I'm just interested in casual terrestrial and sky viewing. Optics don't have to be Swarovski level.

After much research and analysis paralysis, I'm leaning toward the Nikon AE 10x50, they seem to get good reviews.

[Ukastronomer]

https://www.stargazing.me.uk/best-binoculars-for-astronomy/

Google best binoculars for astronomy, but TRY first